


Tito's Favorite, and Other Mysteries Before Breakfast

by proleptic_fancy



Category: Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Friendship, Gen, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-05
Updated: 2013-04-05
Packaged: 2017-12-07 14:23:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/749515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/proleptic_fancy/pseuds/proleptic_fancy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Phoenix takes Maya to the worst little diner in California and finds answers to questions he never knew he had.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tito's Favorite, and Other Mysteries Before Breakfast

The facts of the matter as they currently stood were these: it was 6:37 AM on the first Tuesday in May, and the sun was mocking him.

There was probably more to it than that, but Phoenix was in no mood to puzzle out the rest—not when he'd spent the night tossing and turning and pacing for hours before finally giving up and resigning himself to late-night rerun hell. With his head feeling like it had been stuffed full of cotton and a dull, constant throbbing behind his eyes, he was in no shape for work, but if he'd learned anything in law school, it was that this was a problem he could solve. 

What he needed was simple: a pot of coffee, a heaping plate of something hot and greasy, and a friend on hand to make sure he didn't pass out face-first into it and die an embarrassment to all who knew him. He grabbed his phone from the bedside table, cursing his clumsy fingers as he hunted for Maya's name. All it would take was three little words, and she could bring an end to his misery.

_Stella's? I'll buy._

By the time he was out of the shower, she'd left him a pair of replies.

_Oh Nick, I thought you'd never ask!_

_But seriously if you're not over there by 7.15 i'm starting without you xo_

He was already on his way.

\---

Stella's Diner was the sort of grungy little hole-in-the-wall that sprang up near large concentrations of students, policemen, and other creatures of the night, luring them in with flickering fluorescent lights and the promise of breakfast 24 hours a day. If you didn't think too hard about the dubious validity of the faded certificate by the door, or what color the linoleum counter was supposed to be under thirty years of coffee stains and god only knows what else, or the fact that despite the name, the place seemed to be run by a burly guy named Tito, it had a certain charm that was hard to reproduce.

Most importantly, it was cheap, it was easy, and it was always open. On mornings like this, Phoenix couldn't ask for anything better.

True to her word, Maya was already sitting at the front counter when he arrived, turned around to watch for him out the huge front window. She waved as soon as she spotted him, then tapped her wrist in mock-annoyance when he paused to secure his bicycle next to hers on a nearby lamp post.

He settled into the free seat next to her, letting his briefcase drop to the floor between them with a muffled thump.

"Morning, Nick!" she said. "Whoa, you look awful."

"You don't say," Phoenix grumbled, grabbing the massive glass of soda in front of Maya and stealing a long sip before she could snatch it back. The syrupy sweetness coated his tongue, and the sudden shock of cold made him wince. "How can you drink that stuff this early in the morning?"

"Without your help, for starters!" She pulled out the offending straw and flicked it at him, sprinkling him with tiny droplets.

"Are you sure you want your mouth touching that glass? You don't know where it's been," he said. The dishes probably got washed more than anything else did around here, but you could never be too careful at Stella's.

"Well I don't know where you've been, either. You're probably full of all kinds of weird Nick germs—and stop changing the subject!" She fixed him with her very best glare. "Your hair's all lopsided and you could smuggle tangerines into Canada in those huge bags under your eyes. Were you sleeping at the office again?"

"What? No!" There was probably a story behind the tangerine comment, but he decided he wasn't touching it. Nothing good could come of Maya's strange leaps of fruit-related logic. "I wish I had, though. At least then I'd have gotten _some_ sleep."

"Oh, so it's your own fault for staying up all night. What did you do that for?"

"I—" Phoenix tried to explain that it wasn't exactly on purpose, but Maya didn't give him the chance.

"Wait, does that mean we have a new client? Is that why we're here, to have a strategy meeting?"

"Well, no, but—"

"Oh no! Did you kill somebody? Are we hiding out so Detective Gumshoe doesn't arrest you again? Because this isn't a very good hideout. We come here all the time. Unless…" She paused, thinking. "Unless that's exactly what you were planning! You're so clever, getting me to meet you here and establish your alibi. I have to warn you, though, I'm not going to help you move the body, and I'm not lying for you when you get caught."

"Maya—"

"I'm not going back to prison, Nick!"

"Maya!"

"What?"

"Just, slow down, will you? Of course I didn't kill anyone!" he said. "I didn't do anything but sit around my apartment watching _Dog Cops_ reruns at three in the morning, and I would have told you that if you'd given me a chance to say anything." 

Maya frowned. "So, nothing then? No new case to celebrate or alibi to fabricate or secret affair to cover up—"

"Hey!"

"Aww, I was hoping I could get you to slip up and admit it if I snuck that one in there," she said. "Anyway, what you're telling me is that all it takes to get you into a generous, let's-treat-my-partner-to-breakfast kind of mood is an unexpected all-nighter? 'Cause that's way easier to arrange then waiting for you to get into a secret affair. You're not exactly a hit with the ladies, you know?"

"How would you know? You've been on a mountain for six months, and I do just fi—"

_Oh._ His brain screeched to a halt as it caught up to the implication she'd hidden behind the easy insult. _That's crafty._

He narrowed his eyes at her. "You wouldn't dare."

"I guess you'll find out next time I get a craving for waffles." 

A waitress arrived before Phoenix could plan a suitably threatening retort, but all was forgiven when he saw the pot of coffee in her hand. She dropped a little pile of plastic creamer cups on the counter in front of him and pulled out her notepad.

"Are you two ready to order?" she asked.

Phoenix shook his head. The sudden heat on his face where Maya's eyes were boring into him was all in his imagination. Probably. "I still need a minute, sorry."

"Take your time."

Maya sighed, turning away from him to watch the waitress's retreating back. "Jeez, you're so indecisive this morning," she said. "Hurry up and pick so we can eat already!"

"Maybe if I wasn't so busy defending myself from baseless accusations of murdering my secret lover, I'd have made up my mind by now."

"Oh, be that way," Maya grumbled, but dropped the subject long enough to let Phoenix sip his coffee and start browsing through the day's specials.

As much as he wanted to eat just about everything on the menu at the moment, he'd managed to narrow it down to two of his usual favorites when Maya nudged him. 

"Check it out, Nick! You're not the only geezer in a suit here today," she said, pointing to a man sitting alone in a back corner booth.

"For the last time, I'm _not_ a—" Phoenix began to complain, but when the man glanced up from his book to let the waitress refill his coffee, giving both of them a good look at his face, he found his train of thought suddenly derailed. Was this some kind of sleep-deprived hallucination, or—

"That's _Mr. Edgeworth_!" Maya hissed. "What's he doing here?"

_Good question_. He wasn't the only person here eating alone, but unlike the bleary-eyed man in a rumpled security uniform, or the hurried young woman stopping in for coffee to go, Edgeworth seemed out of place. Part of it was the clothes, as Maya had pointed out—even in a plain grey suit instead of his extravagant courtroom attire, he stood out against the faded red vinyl in the corner booth. More than that, though, was something in his posture, an uncomfortable stiffness that betrayed his neutral expression. 

"I, uh, I really don't know," said Phoenix. "Reading?"

"Well, obviously," she said. "I'm surprised he's not checking his e-mail or something. What kind of weirdo brings a book to a diner, anyway?"

Phoenix didn't have an answer for that one.

The waitress, apparently the only one working this morning, had finished her rounds and was back behind the counter, and she smiled when Maya caught her eye.

"Sorry for the wait, guys. You decide?" she asked.

"Yes!" said Maya, who seemed unwilling to risk any further stalling. "I'll take Tito's favorite and a side of hash browns."

The waitress looked her up and down. "Are you sure, hon? I'm surprised you're old enough to remember it. It's been off the menu for so long, after that mess with the wall a few years back."

"The wall?" Phoenix asked. He'd been coming here since his first year of law school, and here was his teenaged assistant asking for some kind of secret special with a dark past. Life wasn't fair.

"Tito's favorite was our big draw back in the day," the waitress said. "Anybody who finished the whole plate ate free and got their picture up on the Wall, at least until some little slip of a girl came in here and wolfed down two of them. Tito was so embarrassed he pulled the whole thing down and pretended none of it had ever happened."

Of course. Phoenix knew this had been one of Mia's haunts back in her own school days, and it didn't take an ace detective to put it all together.

"That girl?" he said. "I'm pretty sure you're looking at her."

"Sorry about that," Maya said. "But it was my first time visiting the city and me and my sister had been walking all day and I thought I was gonna starve to death! Anyway, I only want one today." She winked. "Gotta save room for dessert!"

"I'll, um, just a number four for me please," said Phoenix. "And some more coffee."

"S-sure thing, guys," the waitress said, reaching for a fresh pot. "It'll be right out."

She disappeared behind the partition into Tito's lair, and there was a short, frantic burst of muffled conversation.

"I can't take you anywhere," Phoenix said, but he was laughing. "What is Tito's favorite, anyway? Since it looks like you already ruined it for the rest of us."

"Nuh-uh, Nick. I want to see the look on your face when they bring it out." She grinned. "Hey, maybe if I finish it, they'll let me have it free for old time's sake."

"If they do, I'll start bringing you here more often."

"Whatever, you're just saying that because you want to keep spying on Mr. Edgeworth." She ignored his indignant sputtering and pressed on. "It's okay, you can buy my silence in burgers. That way everybody wins!"

Phoenix looked down at her, shaking his head. He'd managed to nearly forget about Edgeworth after all of the unexpected drama surrounding their order. Of course, now that she'd reminded him, his first instinct was to lean past her for an unobstructed view of the booth in the back, but that would just encourage her. 

"I'm pretty sure blackmailing your boss is illegal," he said, forcing himself to keep holding Maya's gaze.

"It isn't blackmail if you don't have anything to hide!" she said. "Aren't you a little curious about what he's up to?"

"If I say I am, are you going to go over there and fill his head with terrible lies?"

Phoenix recognized the way she was smiling at him now. It might look sweet to an outside observer, but it was the grin she wore when he was about to be separated from his money or his dignity. Or both.

"Great idea! I hadn't thought of that!" 

_Damn._ His face must have given away his internal horror, either that or the way he choked on his coffee, because Maya didn't even make it out of her chair before she collapsed back into a fit of giggles.

"You're lucky I'm feeling extra-nice today," she said. "Besides, somebody's with him already. I can see their hands, and—" she leaned forward, squinting, "—about half a leg. I wonder who it is."

Phoenix stopped dabbing at the fresh coffee stain on his tie and looked up, surprised. There wasn't much to go on from this distance, and the high back of the booth blocked most of his view, but Maya was right. Edgeworth had set down his book, and seemed to be listening to his mystery companion. His expression hadn't changed, but with his arms resting on the table in front of him, he seemed more natural, almost at ease. The difference was startling, and Phoenix said as much.

"You sound kinda jealous there, Nick. Something you're not telling me?" Maya asked. "Is it about…" she paused for effect, eyes wide, "your _secret lover_?!"

"I thought we went over this! Even if I was seeing somebody, why him? You really think I couldn't do better than a guy that can't even pretend he likes me?"

"How should I know? You're the one being a big weirdo about it," she said. "Ooh, food's here!"

The waitress refilled his coffee before pulling a plate from the oversized tray in her other hand and setting it down in front of him. It was hard to go wrong with eggs and bacon, and it all smelled delicious, but he was distracted from his prize by the sheer terrifying volume of Maya's meal. The first plate was piled high with steaming hash browns—easily twice as many as Phoenix received on his own plate, much to his dismay. He'd have to rectify that when she wasn't looking. 

However, it was the mysterious Tito's Favorite, taking up an entire plate on it's own, that left him slack-jawed and gaping. It was the biggest burger he'd ever seen, at least an inch thick and as big across as one of his hands, stacked high with bright yellow cheese, several strips of thick bacon, and what looked like a fried egg. The bun was misshapen and far too small for the massive monstrosity, and more worryingly, it seemed to glisten in the light, though he couldn't guess with what. To top it all off, a tiny pink paper umbrella had been jabbed in at a jaunty angle. 

Maya plucked it off and poked him with it.

"What's the matter?" she asked around a mouthful of potatoes. "Never seen a donut burger before?"

Phoenix stared, first at Maya, then the burger, then Maya again, trying to pull his thoughts into a coherent sentence.

"You-you ate _two_?!" he managed.

"I was hungry, duh," Maya said, then gestured at his plate with her fork. "Quit gawking, your eggs are getting cold."

He couldn't argue with that, so he took her advice and dug in. The food was everything he'd hoped for—all the salt and grease he needed to power through a long day of napping on the office sofa and fighting over the remote control. Maya seemed equally enthralled, diving straight into her mutant burger and leaving the extra hash browns unguarded. He moved to scrape some onto his plate while she was distracted, but a light kick and a pointed glare put a stop to that cunning plan.

Phoenix was impressed she could even pick up her prize, let alone be putting it away at such an incredible rate. Watching her devour it was kind of hypnotic, but was the sort of thing that would get him into trouble as soon as she came up for air long enough to notice, so he reluctantly turned his attention elsewhere. Watching Edgeworth instead wouldn't get him into any less trouble, but at least he was unlikely to get caught.

"You know, I would've thought a big fancy prosecutor could afford to go to some ritzy downtown cafe for breakfast," said Maya, in between quick, dainty bites. "He must really like that guy if they're going this far undercover."

"It's a guy? How can you tell?" he asked. A pair of hands and half a leg could belong to just about anyone, and he couldn't even see the leg from where he was sitting. 

"Women's intuition," she said. "And he's got gigantic monster hands, whoever he is. Maybe you'd have noticed if you weren't so busy mooning over Mr. Edgeworth."

"I. Wasn't. Mooning." He drained his coffee in a single long gulp, slamming the cup back down on the counter harder than he'd meant to. "Besides," he said, "you're the one assuming it's a date. We're having breakfast together now—does that mean we're dating?"

"Ew, don't even joke about that!" she said in what he hoped was only mock-horror—not that he especially wanted to date somebody who acted more like his little sister, but he'd had enough out of her about his love life for one day, thank you. 

The more he thought about it, though, the more he suspected she might have a point. About Edgeworth, anyway. There were tons of places built to cater to the courthouse crowd, most of which were easily respectable enough to take someone you were trying to impress, but Stella's? It was too out-of-the-way to stumble into by accident, and the occasional cop coming off a long late shift was the closest he'd ever seen to the typical downtown clientele.

Wait.

A familiar face flashed through his mind, and he supposed it would explain, well, a lot, actually. Maybe if he thought Edgeworth was even capable of that kind of fraternization, let alone _amenable_ to it, it would be possible, but no, this was Edgeworth and that would be ridiculous. Right?

"What's up?" Maya asked, pulling him from his speculation before his peace of mind could be irreparably damaged by _that_ mental image.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing. Sorry," he said. Better to keep that thought to himself for now. Whether it was true or not, Maya would probably find a way to get him in trouble over it.

"You can't lie to me, Nick. I'll _know_ ," she said, tapping her forehead for emphasis. "So spill."

Phoenix chased the few remaining crumbs of scrambled egg around the plate with his fork, ignoring her. She'd threatened to use her powers on him plenty of times before, not that she ever needed to when she could read his face like a light-up marquee, and every time he'd called her bluff.

"Fine," she huffed. "We can do this the hard way."

She pulled a face like she was concentrating, followed by a shuddering gasp. "Oooooooh, I can see into your mind, Phoenix Wright!" she said in her best spooky mystic voice, waggling her fingers at him before droning on. "'Maya was totally right about Mr. Edgeworth and his undercover boyfriend, and I've used my keen lawyer skills to unmask the mystery man. Alas, I must protect her innocent ears from the scandal of it all, but I'm going to give her the rest of my bacon anyway because she's sooo clever.'"

Phoenix shrugged and slid over his plate, letting her swipe the last piece before he could change his mind. "Something like that," he said, glancing around. "And keep your voice down. People are staring."

"Whatever," she said, but dropped the act. "It's not like I'm not gonna figure it out on my own—I _did_ learn from the best."

He nodded, feeling a sudden tightness in his chest, the same one that lingered for weeks after that horrible night. It had gotten easier—every time he heard her voice, saw the beginnings of her wry smile on Maya's face, he felt a little more at peace—but he still doubted that feeling would ever fully go away.

"So did I."

"Hey," Maya said, bumping him with her shoulder. "Not just my sister. I mean you too, dummy!"

"I, oh," he said. _Keep it together, Wright!_ "T-thanks. That means a lot."

"Of course at this rate, I won't even have to," she continued. "If he keeps that lovestruck grin on his face, the whole city's gonna know about it by the end of the week."

It took Phoenix a moment to catch up with the sudden change in subject, but he was grateful for it anyway. It was a sure sign things had been getting a little too heavy for both of them if Edgeworth's indiscretions were suddenly the safe topic. That being said, Maya was right. Mostly. Phoenix tried to remember a time he'd seen Edgeworth looking so relaxed—not smirking at him across the courtroom or sulking up in his high tower, just _happy_ —and he couldn't, at least not since they were kids.

The other man reached across the table to make a play for a piece of Edgeworth's toast, revealing a white shirtsleeve rolled up to the elbow, but little else. Edgeworth was too quick for him, though, catching his hand at the wrist, and they stayed that way until Edgeworth said something Phoenix couldn't discern. After a moment, his expression softened, and when his companion moved to let their hands rest on the table, still entwined, Edgeworth didn't pull away. The toast was left forgotten.

"Aww, quit making that face, Nick. I think it's kind of sweet," said Maya. "And who knows, maybe now he'll lighten up a little."

"With my luck, he'll be even more insufferable now that he knows somebody's willing to put up with it. This _is_ Edgeworth we're talking about."

"Cynic," she said, laughing. "I still wish you'd tell me who it is, though. Oh, I know!" Her face lit up. "I'll ask Detective Gumshoe next time we see him—I mean, if it's not right after a murder or anything. He always seems happy to talk about Mr. Edgeworth, since they're partners and all."

"Great idea!" said Phoenix, putting everything he had into keeping a straight face. He probably shouldn't encourage her to make trouble, but this was a conversation he didn't want to miss. "Just convince him Edgeworth's in trouble again—you won't be able to get him to _stop_ talking." 

He shook his head. It really did explain everything, most of which he'd have been just as happy never contemplating. Time to get out of here before his imagination got the better of him.

"Come on," he said. "We should head back. I don't want to be sitting here when Edgeworth realizes we can see him."

"What's he going to do? Have us arrested for gossip?"

"Do _you_ want to stick around and find out?" he asked. "I didn't realize you wanted to talk to the detective that badly."

Maya wrinkled her nose. "You know, when you put it like that," she said, "all of the sudden I'm not so curious anymore."

She waved over the waitress, who cleared their empty plates before asking, "Can I get you two anything else?"

"Are you done?" Phoenix asked, and Maya nodded. "Then I think we're ready."

"Here you go," the waitress replied, setting the check face down between them. "Have a great day!"

"Thanks, you too!"

Phoenix turned over the bill, grateful as always that Maya was a cheap date, and was surprised to find something tucked underneath it. It was an old Polaroid picture, faded by sunlight and time, of two girls sitting at this exact dingy counter. One was just a kid, still at that gawky age when she was all arms and legs, with wild hair and a smudge of ketchup on the tip of her nose. The other was older, in the universal college uniform of jeans and a ratty sweatshirt, but even caught mid-laughter, her beauty was striking and unmistakable.

Maya gasped, snatching up the photo. "I can't believe he kept this all these years!" She ran her thumb over the two names written at the bottom, tears welling up in her eyes. "See," she said. "Maya and Mia, 2011. It was my first time visiting after she left the mountain. We—" her voice seemed to catch in her throat. "We had so much fun."

Phoenix didn't know what to say, what he _could_ say to cheer her up, so he looked back down at the bill. Oddly enough, the price had been scratched out, and just above it, the words 'No Charge' had been scrawled, signed with a big cursive 'T'.

"Hey, Maya," he said, "check it out—you've still got it."

She read Tito's note for herself and giggled, swiping away the tears with the back of her hand before they could spill over. "I guess I do," she said. "Hey, if you don't have to pay for breakfast, does that mean we can go out for ice cream later?"

"Sure, why not?" he said. He'd known her long enough by now that he was no longer surprised she was already thinking about sweets. "If it's a slow day, we can close up early and enjoy the nice weather."

Not that he would admit it, but that had more-or-less been his plan anyway. He'd reached his point of no return when it came to helping the hopeless somewhere around four in the morning, and was still debating whether it was ethically justifiable to unplug the office phone for the day and be done with it. Signs were pointing to 'close enough.'

He scooped up his briefcase and left some cash on the counter before following Maya back out into the morning sun. In a morning filled with answers to questions Phoenix never knew he'd had, only one mystery remained. 

"Can I see that picture a second?" he asked. "Something about it's been bothering me." She pulled it out of her bag and handed it to him, and yep—still weird. "Earlier, you said Tito took down the wall because you ate two of those monster burgers, but there's three empty plates in the picture."

"Oh, is that all?" Maya grinned. "Think about it, Nick. There's only one way to get your name on that wall, and there are two names on that picture. Isn't it obvious?"

Maybe she was messing with him again, but he couldn't fault her logic. "Wow," he said, passing back the picture. "I didn't know she had it in her."

"ESP and lawyering aren't the only things that run in Fey blood, you know. Our appetites are _legendary_." She finished freeing her bike from the lamp post, cheerful once again. "Race you back to the office? Winner gets the remote!"

"You're on!" he said, fumbling for his keys. "Just let me—hey, no fair! Mine's still locked!" he called after her, but it was too late, and the faint sound of her laughter was all that remained as she sped away.

Oh, well. Maya could have the tv for a while, the dirty cheater. It did mean she'd be hogging the sofa again, but there were worse places for a stealth nap than in the privacy of his own office. With his feet up on the desk and a window open to let in the breeze, he'd be sleeping in no time, and that was good enough for Phoenix.

He pulled his bike away and started back, taking his time. If he was gonna lose anyway, he might as well enjoy the sun on his face and the low murmur of the city streets around him. 

It was shaping up to be a beautiful day.


End file.
